As you may be aware, Internet Explorer 10 on Windows 8 and Windows RT has been built from the ground up to have excellent support for touch. Internet Explorer 10 apps run full screen, giving every pixel to the website which helps to really let the content shine through. This, coupled with the ability to pin websites to your start screen, means that many websites can be used in much the same way as you use apps – launch them from your start screen, use them with touch and see them full screen. In fact, when you’re using these sites you are likely to very quickly forget that you’re using the web at all, it just feels like you’re using another app.

I thought it worth highlighting a few sites that I have pinned to my start screen that I think are really useful whether you’re using Windows 8 or Windows RT.

Note here that I’m talking about running these in the Windows 8 UI version of Internet Explorer 10, not the desktop version. To pin these just open the web address in Internet Explorer 10 from your start screen, then press the “pin” icon. You can then drag them around your start screen as you see fit.

Another popular iOS and Android app, Pulse is a very cool aggregator, pulling information from across the web in an easy-to-read style. This web-based version has been especially designed for touch and is a joy to use – try the pinch gesture to see a semantic zoom for example, amazing in a web site.

As Internet Explorer 10 on Windows 8 and Windows RT has special support for Flash on major sites, you’ll find that you can happily stream BBC iPlayer content (if you’re in the UK) even without installing a plug-in or an app

Looking for a sophisticated photo editing app on Windows 8 or Windows RT? Look no further than pixlr, a flash-based editor that works fine using the special Flash support built into the operating system